Her Saviour

Chapter 39: Cherry blossom and snow?

Haru’s Point of View

-          As soon as Haru opened his eyes, he was in an unfamiliar place. “Where am I?” was the first thought he had. He scanned his surroundings and saw a plain barren land with several cherry blossom trees in full bloom right in the middle of the plain. He approached one of the trees and as he did, a petal fell right in front of him. He looked up to the trees and slowly, all the petals started to fall. As he watched the petals fall, he tried to catch hold of some and fell on his knees to pick up the ones on the ground. Then he noticed that the ones that touched the ground withered instantly. Soon, none of the trees had any petals and looked dead. The few petals he had caught had also withered now. He tried to look in the tress for even a single petal and saw a snowflake falling. Haru was confused. As he continued watching the sky, more snowflakes started falling. “Weird…Why is it snowing even though it looks like spring? Is this some kind of an anomaly?” He could not figure out the reason behind this mysterious event. However, it became even more mysterious. As the snowflakes touched the ground, the withered petals regained their bright pink color. As more and more snowflakes touched the ground steadily, more petals came back to life as if they never even withered in the first place. Just as he thought it couldn’t get any more peculiar than this, the fallen petals looked like there were slightly moving. Soon, as if someone reversed time, the petals were back on the trees. Shortly followed by the snowflakes stopping to fall. He looked at the ground and saw that the light snow that fell started to melt and as he watched, he heard a voice

“Maybe next time…”                -

Haru woke up. He was confused and perplexed. The first obvious thing that came into his mind was that it was a metaphorical vision. It didn’t have any direct clues and it meant that he had to deduce what all of this meant. He knew this was connected to Rin’s death. However, what threw him off was that it was snowing. He was so out of context about this snow. He was kind of unsure of this unnatural phenomenon and it may have something to do with Rin.

He thought about any possibilities of snow, trying to find a connection with snow and his vision. Maybe something happened to his ancestors who had visions in winter. But the information he tried to uncover had no specific connection to winter nor snow.

He got out of the bed and took out his notebook from the bedside table's drawer. He flipped out the notebook and then flipped again. He searched again and again but he could not find any keywords he wrote down that could provide him clues about the snow.

Soon after, the thinking led to exhausting himself, and decided to take a shower, freshen up and try again. He stood up from his bed and walked towards the wardrobe. He took out some clothes to change into and placed them on the bed. Then he grabbed his bathrobe. He then went to the bathroom. Haru carefully adjusted the water temperature and decided that he wanted to soak. So he filled the tub, took off his clothes, and tested the water, and then slowly sunk into the tub. Then he soaked for a while.

While he soaked, he tried thinking again about that vision but to no success. No matter what vision he had before, no matter how metaphorical it was, there was a clue that he could find. This time was different and it was far too difficult to understand. He could make something out of the cherry blossoms tree but the thing that was throwing him off the context was the snow. And no matter how much thought he put into it, he could not find a hint or a clue let alone an answer. He then rinsed his body, got out of the tub, and put on his bathrobe. Then he drained the tub. He then felt a bit refreshed as he walked back into his room. Then he changed into the clothes he had taken out earlier.

He reached for a towel and then dried his hair. He sat down on his bed and checked the time. It was 8:30 am. Just then, he heard a knock on his bedroom door. Then he heard his mother speak, “Sweetie, did you wake up? If you are awake, come for breakfast.”

Haru replied, “I woke up mom. Okay, I will come." Then he stood up and walked out of his room to the kitchen. After reaching, he felt a bit parched. So he picked up a glass and poured water from the water jug. Haru was still thinking of that vision and what it could have meant.

Suddenly his mother said “Haru, your glass is overflowing” and as he looked down, his sleeve was drenched and there was a small puddle of water on the floor from the water that overflowed from his glass. He quickly went and got a mop and started mopping the floor.

He looked at his mother and saw her with a worried face. Then she asked him, “What’s bothering you, honey?"

Haru smiled at her so that she does not worry and then replied “Nothing really, I just got lost in thought.”

His mother smiled at him and calmly advised, "Well, do not let it get to you. You should not rush things and take things carefully and calmly."

Haru nodded and sat down to eat. He started feeling better after what his mother told him. He would find the clue and the meaning behind it in time. His mother also sat on the opposite chair. As they started eating, Haru noticed that his father was nowhere to be seen. So in between his bites, he asked, “By the way, I do not see father. Where is he? Has he not woken up yet?”

His mother sighed and said, “Your father went to work because of some sort of emergency so it’s just the two of us today for breakfast.”

“Oh. Since it is Saturday, I thought he might be home.” Haru said.

While eating, his mother asked him. “So, where were you yesterday? Were you on a date?”

Haru looked at his mother and smiled.

“How can she think I went on a date?” he thought.

Then he answered, “No mom. It was not a date. I took Rin to see the fireworks.”

His mother was shocked. Then she said, “Oh my. That is a beautiful gesture. How did you even think about that?”

Haru replied, “Should I tell you the truth?”

His mother nodded. Haru opened his mouth to speak. He was about to say that it was due to visions that he took Rin there.

However, he suddenly experienced the precaution of vision. This force grew stronger and was at its peak in just mere seconds. The force was telling him to go where Rin is.

He stood up and dashed out the kitchen and into his room. He took his phone, wallet and car key. He again dashed out of his room and he shouted “It is an emergency, I have to go somewhere” for his mother who had followed him to the front door.

As he quickly put on his shoes, his mother worriedly asked, “Where are you going? What is the emergency?”

Haru continued putting on his shoes as he replied, "I do not know where I am going mom but it is an emergency and I have to go”.

As Haru stood up and opened the door, he looked in the direction of his mother. His mother looked extremely worried now. So Haru said, “Mom. Do not worry much. I will call you if anything happens okay? And I will be fine. It is about Rin so I have to go.”

His mother nodded and then Haru dashed out of the door as fast as he could to his car. He threw his phone and wallet onto the passenger seat and started driving out of the parking.

He did not know where he was supposed to be going. The force told him to get to where Rin was. So, he picked up his phone from the passenger seat and dialed Rin’s number. She did not pick up the call, then he suddenly felt an extremely sharp pain in his head. He was confused and worried. He was trying to get to where Rin was, but then he started getting the pain.

Haru dialed Rin’s number again and spoke, “Please Rin. Please answer the call.”

However, she still did not respond and the pain in his head starting getting worse. He tried to ignore the pain and dialed her number repetitively. Each time he dialed, the pain in his head got worse to the point where he now started to bleed from his nose. He wiped his blood off and still dialed Rin’s phone non-stop.

He was driving around the city but he did not know where he should be going.

“If only I knew where Rin lived, then I could have driven there. But something inside me is telling me that she is not home. Damn it, where are you Rin? At least answer your phone. Please.” He spoke.

By this time, his vision was getting blurred and he was starting to feel a bit dizzy.

After he dialed Rin again another ten times or so, all and any pain he felt up until then went away suddenly without any gradual feeling of the pain disappear. It just stopped. He was not sure about the reason but if the pain went away, it probably meant that he is doing the right thing.

He dialed Rin’s number again and this time, the call was answered. He hurriedly asked, “Rin. Are you okay? Where are you? Why were not you answering my calls?

He then heard a voice from the other side of the call and knew in an instant that it was not Rin.

“Hello, are you a relative of the owner of this phone?” the voice asked.

Haru was confused.

“Why is another woman answering Rin’s phone and asking if I am a relative of her?” he thought.

However, he still answered. “No, I’m a friend of hers. Why? Who is this?”

The woman spoke, “I am a nurse and the owner of this phone has been in an accident and we are currently taking her to the city hospital. Can you get there as soon as you can?”

Haru could not believe what he was hearing. “Accident? What?” he thought. He then scolded himself that the most important thing to do right now was to be near her. So he said, “Yes, I will get there as soon as possible.”

Then the nurse ended the call. Haru threw his phone on the passenger seat. Then he started driving at about 70kmph honking and avoiding cars and heading to the city hospital as fast as he could. He left the car parked right in front of the emergency section of the hospital. He requested one of the security guards to take care of his car and explained that someone he knew has been in an accident. He passed his key to the security guard and ran in.  

He went up to the reception and asked for a female about his age who was brought in just a few moments ago from an accident. The receptionist asked him to wait for a minute while she accessed the computer for information. After a while, the receptionist directed Haru to a room further in the emergency section.

He ran and checked each room number and when he finally saw the room he was directed towards, he saw a nurse standing outside. He immediately asked the nurse, “Where is she? What happened?”

The nurse looked at him and replied, “Please calm down. There’s nothing wrong with her, or at least not that we know of. We are still undergoing a thorough check-up to see if nothing is wrong.”

Haru was confused and asked, “Then why is she in the emergency section?”

The nurse replied, “According to the waitress who works at café Moon and Stars, this girl jumped off from their balcony which is 6-storied high. I am not sure how this is possible but she should have died on the impact when she fell from that height but when we bought her to the hospital she was just unconscious. We could not find any scratch on her body. At the moment, we are making sure she is not internally bleeding by taking her to the CT room.”

Haru stood there trying to analyze what had happened. He did not know what to say. Then the nurse touched his shoulder and was calling him.

“Excuse me? Are you the one who was calling her phone?” Haru nodded. Then she continued, “We tried to see if she had anything with which we could identify her. But we did not find anything like then. We then tried to see if we could find anything from her phone when you called. Can you wait outside and call her immediate family and let them know that she is in the hospital?”

Haru nodded.

Then he remembered that he did not know where she lived nor did he know any of her family member's names. He had no other option than to call their college administration and ask her one of her parent's numbers.

He dialed the number and a male answered the call. Haru explained who he was and the situation. He then asked for the contact number of Rin’s family. The person asked Haru to wait for a while to search for Rin’s details in the administrative database.

After a while, Haru heard him speak, “Here note down the number 1XXXXXXX54. The number is her father’s. Let me know if you need any other help.” After thanking him, Haru ended the call.

Then Haru walked outside to the parking area of the hospital thanked the security guard for parking his car properly at a designated parking area. Inside, there were a lot of people and the noise was too much. He wanted to call Rin’s father in a quiet place. So, he came out. Then he dialed the number he got earlier.

Rin’s father answered on the third ring, “Hello. Who is this?”

Haru spoke, “Hi Sir. My name is Haru and I study in the college your daughter studies. I am calling to inform you that your daughter had an accident and she is currently at the city hospital. The people here are asking for her immediate family.”

Then he heard Rin’s father speak from the other side of the call, “What? An accident? Anyways I will be there as soon as possible.” Then he ended the call before Haru could say anything.

He then walked back inside to the hospital. He reached outside Rin’s room and then sat down on the bench near him. He then waited. He waited for either the doctor or the nurse to come out and tell him about Rin. He also waited for Rin’s father to get to the hospital.

*Two hours passed*

The nurse from earlier had come out of the room and told him that Rin was fine an hour ago. When Haru asked if he could go meet her, the nurse nodded but had replied that she was sleeping at the moment. She also added that Rin would not be waking up any time soon.

The nurse spoke, “The doctor estimated that she will be asleep for around two days. Other than that, she is absolutely fine. She has no internal bleeding. Though I am not sure how this is happening.” She smiled and left.

Haru had then walked inside to her room and sat on the stool near her bed.

He had been in her room for an hour. He had called Rin’s father at 10:30 am. It was now 12:30 pm but he still had not reached.

“Did something happen on his way? He should be here already. If he could not come, her mother should be here.” Haru thought.

Then he remembered that his mother was worried when he dashed out of the house in the morning. So he walked out of her room and dialed his mother. His mother immediately answered her phone.

Haru heard her say from the other end of the call, “Haru? Sweetie? Is everything fine? What happened?”

Haru replied, “Mom. Calm down. I think everything is fine.” And then he explained everything that had happened. His mother asked, “Is she really fine?”

Haru replied, “Yes Mom. So do not worry okay? And can I stay with her until she wakes up? The doctor said she will wake up in about two days. I do not want to leave her side.”

His mother replied, “Okay sweetie. I will tell your father about this. So do not worry and take care of her okay?”

Haru spoke, "Thank you, mom." And then ended the call. He walked back into Rin’s room and saw a man near Rin. There was a nurse explaining to him that it was a minor accident and that Rin will wake up after two days because of fatigue. Haru was startled by what he heard and looked at the nurse but she gestured that she will explain later. Haru nodded.

After she was done, the man turned towards him.

He spoke, “You are the one who called me earlier right? Haru right?”

Haru nodded. Rin’s father continued, “I tried to come as soon as I could but got held up in a meeting. Anyways thank you for doing this for Rin.”

Haru replied, “No problem sir.”

However, something bugged him. “I told him that his daughter is in the hospital after an accident. Yes, Rin is fine, and thank god for that but how could he not get here in about half an hour? Got caught up in a meeting? He should have come here to her leaving that. Something is not right.” Haru thought.

Soon after that, Rin’s father spoke again, “Haru. I have a favor to ask. Since you know Rin, can you stay with her in the hospital until she is discharged? I cannot stay because I have my own work to take care of. Before I leave, I will make the preparations and ask the nurse to move her to a bigger room where you will be comfortable.”

Haru was glad that he could stay but he did not understand one thing. Her father seemed like a person who did not make any time for the family. He did not know the reason but her mother would not be able to do that. He did not see her mother rushing to her daughter’s side. This shocked him.

Haru opened his mouth and spoke, “Sir. I would be happy to help but what about her mother?”

Rin’s father’s eyes widened and then said, “Oh. She did not tell you? Her mother passed away five years ago. And there is no one else that I can ask to stay with her. So, don’t say no.”

Haru did not expect to hear that. He nodded and watched as her father walked out of the room.